Legendborn

 

Trigger Warnings: Death of a parent; generational trauma (depictions of slavery, abuse, rape); gore; possession; demons; racism and micro-aggressions

Hello everyone!  Today, I'll be reviewing Legendborn by Tracy Deonn.  Here's the synopsis:

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Briana Matthews (Bree) wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home.  To escape her guilt and sorrow, she attends a residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill.  That is, until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.  During the attack, she encounters a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.  The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital.  Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.  She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other.  But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.

This book was phenomenal and has become one of my favorite reads.  Trust me, you need to get your hands on this.  It's been awhile since I've read a YA fantasy that has truly enthralled me.  Legendborn brings a whole new perspective to Arthurian legends.  It tackles grief, generational trauma, the experience of a black girl in the South, and the legacies that slavery and colonization have left behind.

There's a lot going on in this story, and we readers have to fumble alongside Bree as she encounters it all for the first time. Here's a quick summary of the positions within the strict hierarchy of the Order of the Round Table:

The Legendborn are demon-hunters descended from the original knights of the Round Table.  The most important member of each family (or Line) is the Scion—a person between the ages of 16-22 who can be "Called" by their knightly ancestor.  When you're Called, you gain the preternatural powers that the knight had.  For example, Scions of the Line of Gawain gain the ability to heal others.  Scions can manipulate aether—a magical element in the air—into weapons, and they're trained from birth for their roles.  However, not everyone will be Called. There's a rank order in which the knights Call their descendants.  For example, Line of Bors will always be called before Line of Lancelot.  The top-ranked families are hardly ever Called because the lower families can usually handle the demon threats (and, no spoilers, but if every Scion were to be Called... it'd be a bad thing).  When a Scion dies or turns 23, their title passes to the next eligible member in their family, akin to succession to the British throne.

The Onceborn are what the Shadowhunters call "mundanes"—humans who aren't part of the Legendborn families, protected from the truth about demons and magic.  The only Onceborns who know about this world are Vassals, who have served the Legendborn for generations in exchange for money, power, the works. Vassals may be initiated into the Order as Pages (lowest ranked in the Order hierarchy, but still one step up from Vassal) who can then compete, once a year, for the coveted spot of Squire.  Squires are magically bonded to Scions who have been Called, and they gain the powers of that Scion.  The Squire's duty is to protect their Scion at all costs.

Finally, we have the Merlins, or sorcerers of the Order.  Merlins can use aether to do all manner of things, from tracking and incapacitating demons, to sensing Gates (portals that allow demons to enter the human plane), to manipulating, or mesmering, people's memories.  The Kingsmage—like Selwyn Kane—is the most powerful Merlin of their generation, and has a special bond with the leader of the Round Table.

I loved Bree's character.  She was funny, resilient, and brilliant.  All of this happens while she still is attempting to process her mother’s death.  And while a lot of this is an exploration of attempting to figure out what happened to her mother, a great portion of this is an examination of grief.  I, myself, have not felt the pain of losing a parent but Deonn made me empathetic to Bree and her journey.  There is so much to be said about the conversations regarding mental health and how Bree does and does not process her trauma.  I’m still amazed at how seamlessly Deonn was able to weave in so many different aspects into just the character development.  I think it's important to show black characters experiencing human emotions, without it being exploitive or offensive.

One of my favorite things about Legendborn is that it doesn't simply acknowledge what it means to be Black in America.  It head-on confronts modern-day anti-Blackness and its roots in the America's history of colonialism, slavery, and violence.  It celebrates and champions the ways in which Black folk continue to survive, resist, and thrive.

I implore you to read Legendborn if you haven't already.  Deonn will to reshape urban fantasy as we know it with this series.  I can't wait for the sequel!

XOXO, Michaela

P.S. I'm Team Nick :)